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<title>Thicker than water by reggie-lupin (My_Desperate_Romance)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29591604">Thicker than water</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Desperate_Romance/pseuds/reggie-lupin'>reggie-lupin (My_Desperate_Romance)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Childhood Sexual Abuse, Flash Fic, Gen, Horror, Parent/Child Incest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:13:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>300</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29591604</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Desperate_Romance/pseuds/reggie-lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Grimmauld Place was warded against any threat known to wizardkind.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>HP Fanfic Writers' Guild Horror Drabble Challenge 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Thicker than water</h2></a>
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    <p>Grimmauld Place was warded against any threat known to wizardkind. Its floor plan was unplottable, its iron gates laced with silver. Father had made them all cut their palms at the entrance door with Grandfather's ceremonial knife, because “truly powerful magic can only be obtained if one’s willing to spill blood”.</p><p>His paranoia manifested in long tirades against Muggles which could only be stopped (briefly) by working more on the house’s protections. His descriptions of the dangers Purebloods faced in modern society were filled with gory details, and Regulus had been a fearful, impressionable child.</p><p>Sometimes he’d get tremors he couldn’t stop, become unable to speak, or see monstrous shapes in the shadowed corners of the house. He’d used to slip in his brother’s bed on those days, Sirius teasing him for believing the stories (<em>don’t let the postman eat you</em>) yet never sending him away. There was no Sirius to go to anymore now, though.</p><p>This month’s ritual required a full moon, the magical barrier around the house now so thick that it perpetually blurred the corner of the sky Regulus saw from his window. He kept his eyes on the fuzzy silver circle as he listened to his father finally stop chanting, come back inside and, like every night, climb the stairs to his son’s room instead of his wife’s. Like every night, Regulus was waiting in bed, completely still.</p><p>The stench of dark magic filled his nostrils as Father sat on the bed, hands reaching under the covers to undo the buttons of his nightrobes.</p><p>“We’ll be safe, now.” he whispered in Regulus’ ear.</p><p>He gripped the ceremonial knife he’d stolen from Father’s study.</p><p>“Yes,” he replied, “we will.”</p><p>Regulus tried to do it carefully. He’d hate for Kreacher to have to spend the whole night cleaning.</p>
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